The Washington Post Will Pay All 2013 Dividends To Beat the ObamaCliff

Link to AP News.

The Washington Post Co. will pay its 2013 dividends before the end of this year to try to spare investors from anticipated tax increases.

The media and education company said Friday that its dividend of $9.80 per share is payable Dec. 27 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 17. The payout is instead of regular quarterly dividends next year.

Washington Post is the latest company to move up its quarterly payout or issue a special end-of-year payment to protect investors from potentially having to pay higher taxes on dividend income starting in January.

The list of companies paying dividends early continues to get longer and longer. I first started investing in 1984. I don't recall anything like this in all those years.

A lot of folks are going to get some nice cash dividends for Christmas, 2012. Very, very interesting. 

Unintended consequences.